


Discovery

by Guanin



Series: Crimson Sunset [2]
Category: Heroes (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-26
Updated: 2015-04-26
Packaged: 2018-03-25 19:56:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 505
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3822844
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Guanin/pseuds/Guanin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hiro really should have taken more care in hiding those scrolls.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Discovery

It wasn't meant for him to find, though how Hiro thought that he wouldn't see it Adam can't figure. Inscribed in the hilt of his sword, just at the base, lay two words: "Ando, open." Hardly inconspicuous. Anyone with just a modicum of curiosity would have followed the simple command, but none would have done so with the anxious trepidation gripping Adam’s fingers, making them tense as he fumbled with the cap hiding the hollow chamber inside. He tilted the sword and five tightly curled scrolls tumbled out onto his waiting palm. Five letters written by the man that vanished from his life after setting fire to its very foundations. And Kensei knew exactly who they were directed to. It didn't take him more than a second to place the name. Hiro had mentioned it once: the friend who waited loyally for his return. He remembered Hiro leaning against a fallen tree trunk, eagerly scribbling on a piece of paper the same size as these, his eyes lost in a future Adam couldn’t see.

Sifting through the scrolls, he noticed that each was marked with a different number, as if in a sequence. He opened the first, his eyes sweeping over the tightly packed words. Although his reading of kanji got better with each passing month, he still stumbled over some of the characters, but not enough to keep him from understanding the tale Hiro wove of his adventures with the great Kensei Takezo. Adam's heart beat a little harder as he read Hiro's lackluster first impression of him, his determination to make him a hero, his joy when Kensei finally stepped onto the hero's path. The words awoke a sharp tang of reminiscence within him, squeezing at his chest. But the passages that really caught his attention, compelling him to read the scrolls over and over again were those waiting at the end of the text, as if hoping that any other person that chanced across them might get bored before getting that far. Their superficial appearance was simple: "I miss you"' and "I wish you were here"' and inside jokes between friends, yet buried deep in the black ink lay a meaning far more substantial. A message of hope, of yearning, of love. Whispers of emotions Adam had once hoped to feel directed at his own self. His fingers clenched suddenly, wanting to rip the fragile paper to pieces, scratching out even the smallest fragment of emotion engraved on it, just like he wished he could banish Hiro from his own perpetually beating heart. But as his hands moved to do just that, a thought, wicked, insidious, slithered through his consciousness, the hum of vengeance stamped with blood.

Carefully, he rolled up the scrolls and dropped them back inside the hilt, making sure that the cap fit tightly. It wouldn't do to lose them. For though every word burned in his mind, memory was a treacherous thing, and he wanted to ensure that the information was fresh when the time came.

Kensei smiled.


End file.
